Potion 2025: The Student Game Festival Returns with a Fan Art Theme

The Student Game Festival – Potion is making a comeback. From March 21–23, 2025, its second edition will take place, offering a wide range of programs – workshops, lectures, exhibitions, and game presentations. This year's theme is Fan Art, and the main venues will be the creative hub KUMST and the Residence Café Kaprál. The festival was initiated by the Studio of Game Media and is organized by the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Brno University of Technology (FaVU VUT).

The Brno festival will once again showcase that student game development is an ideal space for exploring the present and future forms of the gaming medium. According to the organizers, this year's edition will embrace the spirit of fan art and pose a provocative question: Does art exist that is not inspired by what came before it?

Potion is the first domestic festival that also aims to place student games in a broader artistic and creative industry context. “It’s great to see students organizing an event not just for themselves but also for their teachers, across all disciplines,” says Klára Benešová, a video game specialist.

Organizers believe that student projects are the perfect ground for re-examining the current and future role of games and game design principles. Their goal is to build a long-term platform focused on mapping and presenting student game development. As part of game education, they will continuously monitor schools and educational institutions involved in gaming culture. “Even the projects submitted by Czech and Slovak schools demonstrate diversity and sometimes an almost fanatical interest in the gaming medium,” adds Klára Benešová.

Potion is naturally open to all students, regardless of their field or type of school. The priority is the games themselves. The festival welcomes all free game formats, including digital, board, spatial, or experimental games.

The festival program is divided into several sections: Potion of Energy will provide space for student game developers. In Potion of Practice, visitors can create a virtual Tamagotchi, an architectural design from found objects, or jewelry. Potion of Theory will feature lectures opening discussions on how to and how not to draw inspiration for game design. The festival will kick off with an “uncorking” speech by the organizers at 6:00 PM on Friday in the KUMST hall. During the event, the first contribution to the Depozin series of study materials by Lucie Polášková and Vojtěch Vaněk will be launched, along with the spatial game Brno Game. This unique collectible mobile game, based on collecting original cards while exploring the city, was created in collaboration with Atelier of Ghosts and TIC Brno for those eager to discover treasures in architecture, art, and history. Brno Game is available for iOS and Android and will guide you through interesting locations and events. The festival will conclude with a Sunday post-festival brunch. The full program packed with exciting events can be found here.

The festival is free for all participants. Registration is available via the website here.